Black Pudding 8 Print Edition Out Now!

The print edition of Black Pudding Issue 8 is now available to order from the Squarehex site using the following link:

https://www.squarehex.co.uk/collections/black-pudding/products/black-pudding-issue-8

You can also get a bundle of the first 8 issues at a special price:

https://www.squarehex.co.uk/collections/black-pudding/products/black-pudding-issues-1-8-bundle

Black Pudding Issue 7 Kickstarter is Live!

The Kickstarter for Black Pudding Issue 7 and The Black Pudding Adventure Journal is now live. I launched it with minimal fanfare on Sunday afternoon and in less than 24 hours it's already closing on raising £4,000!

Check out the project here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/black-pudding-issue-7-and-the-black-pudding-journal

Dragonmeet Offerings

Dragonmeet in London is this Saturday 2nd December. Check the website here for details: https://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/

Squarehex will have a stand with all sorts of stuff. Here's a list of highlights:

• Black Hack T-Shirts £12
• Black Hack Hoodies £28
• Midderlands Book and Poster £30
• Little Book of Dungeons £5
• Character, Location, Plot, & Treasure Cards £10 per deck
• Black Hack Rulebook £4
• Black Pudding Zines 1, 2, & 3 £3each
• Dungeon and Character Sheet Mugs £6each
• Selection of OSR books
• Selection of Savage Worlds books
• Reaper Bones Minis
• Pads.Notebooks with squares and hexes

Some stock is very limited, so if you have your heart set on something please get to the stand early. I've got 10 Black Hack Hoodies and 30 Black Hack T-Shirts. If there are any left at the end of the show I will add them to the Squarehex site next week.

If you like OSR games then this year promises to have a stronger than ever presence.

Last Few Hours of The Black Hack

There are just 5 hours left to get in on the Kickstarter. The project ends tonight at 8pm GMT. The most popular pledge level is £8 + postage and gets you all this:

• 2 Printed copies of The Black Hack rules
• 1 PDF copy of the rules
• 12 Printed character sheet
• 1 Micro-Setting Supplement - The Queer & Deadly Town of Sorrowset
• 1 Printed Mini-GM's Screen

The Black Hack Rules Preview

The Black Hack is a streamlined OSR RPG by David Black that is currently live on Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/the-black-hack

I was going to write a series of blog posts this week to show some of the mechanics of The Black Hack. However, David has put together a couple of preview pages that collate some key rules and give a much better idea of how the system works. They also serve as a preview of how the rule book interior is laid out.

The Black Hack RPG

Yesterday I launched a new Kickstarter campaign. It is for an OSR RPG called The Black Hack written by David Black. It is not to be confused with my own B/X Retroclone RPG FOSSIL which is still in development, but nevertheless I'm sure it will still be of interest to many of you.

Here's some blurb about it:

The Black Hack is a super-streamlined roleplaying game that uses the Original 1970s Fantasy Roleplaying Game as a base, and could well be the most straightforward modern OSR compatible clone available. If speed of play and character creation, compatibility, and simple - yet elegant rules are what you yearn for. Look no further!

The project hit its funding goal in just 12 hours and as I type has just past its second Stretch Goal. Here's a link to the project page:

ttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/the-black-hack

Over the next few weeks while the campaign is running I will be writing a series of blog posts that look at some of the mechanics used in the system. There is also plenty of discussion on Google+ where the game's creator David Black is always happy to answer questions about his game.

OSR Character Sheets Now Available

The pads of OSR character sheets from last month's Kickstarter campaign came in last week and the backers are already receiving their allocations.  If you missed out on the Kickstarter but would like to get hold of a pad they can now be ordered from my Squarehex webstore:

http://squarehex.myshopify.com/collections/role-playing-games/products/osr-b-x-character-sheet-pad

For UK customers I'm also now running flat-rate £2.90 shipping for all orders.

Last 2 Days of the OSR Character Sheet Kickstarter

The OSR Character Sheet Pad Kickstarter finishes on Sunday, so there's less than 48 hours to get in on it. I'm really pleased with how it's gone so far, but it would be nice to see it break the £200 mark.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/osr-character-sheet-pad

Kickstarter Update: Savage Worlds and OSR Character Sheets

Over the last couple of days I've been busy posting out Savage Worlds Character Sheet Pads out to backers.  Now that I've sent the last of them it's time for a new Kickstarter.  I've decided to revisit my previous OSR character sheet project and put up the A5 B/X sheet that featured in it.  Last year I tried to fund printing the sheets on Indiegogo, but the goal was too high and it didn't make it.  However, I did release a PDF of the sheet alongside my Advanced Character Sheet that I successfully Kickstarted a few months ago.

This time the project is being given a helpful little push as the printer that I use has offered a discount on any July orders.  This, combined with a little bit of subsidy from my last 3 projects means, I'm pretty certain that these sheets will now make it in to print even if there are only a dozen or so backers.  Of course if it gets a few more than that I'll be very happy indeed.

The project page may be found here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/osr-character-sheet-pad

Happy Easter!

This is pure Old School, gem-encrusted, 100% handmade, Easter goodness.

And in a few minutes it will be gone!

FREE Character Sheet PDFs - 1st Ed and B/X

To help promote my Kickstarter project for pads of printed Character Sheets, I've decided to make the PDFs of both designs FREE to download from RPGNow.  Here's direct links to them and the Kickstarter project:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/110487/1st-Ed-Advanced-Character-Sheet
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/110488/A5-B-X-OSR-Character-Sheet
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1730454032/advanced-rpg-character-sheet-pad

B/X Characters Rules PocketMod

One of the extras that I am producing to go with my OSR Character Sheet Pads is a PocketMod containing all the rules required to roll up a 1st level B/X character.  The folowing images show what it looks like so far.  It is amazing how much you can get on to a single A4 sheet of paper.  The PocketMod not only has all the basic rules for creating characters, but it also has a combat table, a saving throws table, weapon damage and even missile weapon ranges.  I had planned to produce 2 PocketMods one for character generation, and a second with equipment lists.  However, I surprised myself by finding space for basic equipment in addition to all the character generation rules.  I will also be adding lists and descriptions of 1st level cleric and magic-user spells on the back so the sheet can be unfolded to look at them.

A copy of this PocketMod will be sent out with every pad of OSR Character Sheets that are currently running as an Indiegogo camapign here: http://beta.indiegogo.com/projects/110891 Even if the campaign fails to meet its funding goal I will still email a PDF of the PocketMod to all the backers.  Next week I will start on my rewoking of Games Wokshop's classic 1978 Character Sheet which will also be an semi-exclusive item for my Indiegogo backers.

Oubliette Issue 8 for FREE!

Issue 8 of Oubliette is one week away from publication.

Following the terrific response we had to the giveaways of Issues 5, 6 & 7, Oubliette Issue 8 will also be available for a limited period as a free download from rpgnow.com.

Here's an advance look at the contents:

• Tales from Hell Cartoon
• Editorial
• The Maslow Dungeon 
• Monster Club #14: The Death Gate
• The Lands of Ara - Special Feature
• Newland Campaign Setting Part III: Factions in the Forest
• Monster Club #15: Newland Bestiary Part II
• Forest Mini-Adventure: The Kobold & Goblin Resistance
• Forest Location: Moot Point
• Forest Mini-adventure: The Bloodbeard Bugbears
• Forest Mini-adventure: The Burnt Tree Clan
• Monster Club #16: Dungeon Random Encounter Tables: Levels 7-8 
• Goblin Quest Cartoon
• Fanzine Frenzy
• Found Familiar: The Cat 
• What's in the Oubliette? Reviews
• Mouse Watch Cartoon
• The Song of Sithakk Part 8

As soon as the Issue is released, I'll post the news here directly.  The printed edition of Issue 8 will follow the PDF release once I get a proof copy to check.  The Compilation of Issues 5-8 will take a little longer, as it requires some additional layout work over and above the single issues.

Sneaky preview

Bugbear Shaman

We're in that last phase of preparing Oubliette Issue 8, and the team is bleary eyed and emotional.  I keep smacking Pete on the back of his head shouting "Man up, soldier!  Only a few more pages to go!"

Actually, nothing of the sort happens.  The last part of Oubliette is rather lonely.  No more gags, no more flinging around anarchic ideas, just heads down, shoulder to the wheel and any other cliche for hard graft that comes to mind.  Our proof reader extra-ordinaire has been infected with primary school coldy germs(care of his beloved granddaughter), but continues to make his eyes bleed, magnificently combing the pages for hideousness whilst honking loudly into a large hankie.

Goblin Quest

Yesterday,  I finished the last ever episode of Goblin Quest.  I can't say I'm sorry.  It's probably some of the most detailed cartooning work I've done, and no doubt I'll look back on it and make some fatuous comments of how "I did that", but right now, I'm just glad it's over.

I love this mag, but the last part of it is like the end of a marathon.  Except, that wall doesn't just appear, it continues to fall on me repeatedly, battering my enthusiasm.

Alright, enough whinging Marg.  Time to man up, soldier!  Only a few more pages to go! 

Somebody, please smack the back of my head.  Ouch.  Thanks Pete.

Indiegogo OSR Character Sheet Pad

I've just launched a new campaign on Indiegogo.com for printed A5-sized pads of OSR Character Sheets.  Full details can be found here:

OSR Character Sheet Campaign on Indiegogo.com

The sheets are designed for use with B/X rulesets of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game, and retroclones versions such as Labyrinth Lord.

This is a small project to test the water, but if it succeeds, I have several other, larger projects in mind for the future.  A PDF of the character sheet is already on the site, so please help yourselves to a download (in the Gallery section of the project page) if you like the look of it.

If you want more detailed character sheets, the set I designed in 2010 for use with Labyrinth Lord's Advanced Edition Companion rules are also still available as free downloads on RPGNow.com.

The Wraith

One of the things I hoped to be able to do by having my iPad, was draw for the Monster Book in the evenings(my big computer is at work). I'm continuing to practise in Sketchbook Pro, and here are my latest offerings.

We might use the close-up wraith illustration in the Monster Book and the full length wraith will take its place as a contender for the next Oubliette Compilation (Issues 5-8).

I realise I seem a little undead-centric, but this might be a result of watching The Walking Dead, which continues to be one of my favourite leisure-time programmes.

Other Old Schools: Number 1 - The LaserDisc

I really enjoy reading other blogs which discuss various aspects of the OSR.  It got me thinking: what else am I interested in that might be given the Old School tag.

I'll try and think of a new item each week and you can judge whether or not it deserves a place on the Old School Cool Wall.

First up: LaserDiscs

Until the DVD format was launched in 1997 (1998 in the UK), LDs were the final word in quality home cinema.  DVD pretty much killed the format overnight.  As people dumped their entire movie collections, I took the oportunity to build up my collection.  I still own about 300 LDs and a flagship Pioneer deck to play them on.  I love my collection.  I'll probably keep most of it even after my player kicks the bucket.

Much like Vinyl LPs, the discs themselves are a big part of the attraction.  Many have gatefold covers, booklets, slip cases or other design features that make them worthy of admiration on a purely aesthetic level.  A LaserDisc player in operation is quite a machine to behold.  They're very mechanical devices, with genuinely smart engineering including: autoturn a feature that plays both sides of a disc without having to remove it from the player, and an additional pop-out mini loading tray for loading audio CDs. 

At the weekend, I was reading about the imminent Blu-ray release of the Star Wars films, and the distress being caused by Lucas making even more CGI changes to the original films.  Thankfully, I own both the Special Edition LD boxed set and the Definitive Edition Boxed set on LaserDisc.  Which, along with my copy of The Star Wars Vault, is all I need to experience 1977 all over again.